Birds of a Feather
by Shyma Tavrott Lupin
Summary: On the evening of Asuma's funeral, two of his oldest friends decide to be there for one another.


**Well hello there! It's been quite some time since I've written for Naruto so do excuse me if there's a detail off here and there. College has turned me back into a giddy little kid about Naruto and of course I had to write my feelings out after playing catch up with the Shippuden episodes. I'm always one for the emotional aspect of things and because I always so Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma as a trio of best friends through out the entire show, I imagined Kakashi and Kurenai would turn to each other for some sort of support following Asuma's death. While I do ship K&K a bit somewhere in the crevices of my brain, this is just a friendship fic. After all, a strong friendship is the basis of any relationship, right? Anyway, I'll stop blabbing now and let you read on. Here's "Birds of a Feather," enjoy!**

Kakashi wasn't one to spend time outside during daylight hours unless he absolutely had to, far from interacting with people during his time out. But this evening was different, the entire day had been different. As a matter of fact, everything around Kakashi had been changing far too fast as of late and he didn't like it one bit.

That however, was food for thought for a different time as right now he was busy scanning around the local jonin bar for the first person he'd seen leaving his best friend's funeral just under an hour ago.

When Kakashi spotted Kurenai, he slid into the booth across from her and shifted his eyes from her to her untouched drink a few times before flagging someone down to order a drink of his own. He took off his flak jacket and leaned back in his seat, drawing the utmost comfort from his surroundings. She still hadn't acknowledged his presence but she hadn't told him to get lost either, so he allowed the silence to simmer for some time.

"How many months?" Kakashi asked after a moment as the waitress returned with his drink.

"Six."

Kakashi chuckled and only bothered to explain when Kurenai raised a brow at him. "I knew he was sleeping with you." Kurenai opened her mouth to berate him, but he continued, "He always denied it, but I knew."

"He denied it to you?" Kurenai expressed surprise that Asuma would have withheld something from the man he'd considered to be his closest friend.

"I suppose he didn't want my loud, drunken mouth blabbing it off to someone before he could propose," Kakashi shrugged, not seeming to offended by his late friend's secrecy.

Kurenai felt a knot in her chest at the mention of a proposal and Kakashi realized he'd triggered something in her. He regretted it only for a second before coming to the conclusion that they both needed to speak about it as much as possible to make it hurt less sooner. That was wishful thinking of course, but it was all Kakashi could to to keep himself from feeling useless in the situation.

"You do blab when you're drunk," Kurenai pitched in, tracing a finger around the full glass before her. The comment enticed the ghost of a smile from Kakashi, whose eyes cast down at his own drink. He exhaled deeply before pulling the dark mask down to his chin and taking a sip, the glass pressing against a raised scar on his upper lip.

"If you'd just get a hair cut you'd look so much less like your father," Kurenai told him, not for the first time.

"You _know_ it's just force of habit at this point," he replied, not for the first time, putting his glass down and reaching across the table for hers. He refused to let himself become the topic of conversation the way Kurenai was aiming for. He was there to see her through the days, not the other way around.

"How's Shikamaru doing?" Kakashi asked, rerouting the subject.

Kurenai remained silent for a moment, her eyes dropping to the table between them. "Honestly, I haven't had the courage to visit to him yet."

"Sharp as a kunai, that one," Kakashi admitted truthfully, "I'll be damned if he doesn't cook up an ingenious strategy to avenge Asuma by tomorrow morning." He watched as Kurenai's eyes flickered upward and her ears perked simply at the mention of her late partner's name.

"I saw Ino once…twice," she spoke to distract herself. "She means well. Choji does too-they've all been very supportive."

"And Konohamaru?" Kakashi played along as the silence ate away at him as much as it did her. "You're all he's got left, you know."

They were close enough that the statement didn't warrant any backlash from her. Kurenai exhaled through her nose. "He looks just like Asuma did when he was younger. He'll grow up handsome."

Kakashi could tell that while she didn't want to talk about it now, chances were that Konohamaru was already packing to move in with her.

They were silent for another moment and then, "Do you think Shikamaru and Ino are…"

Kurenai thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Well…maybe. Asuma always thought so."

"Want to bet?" Kakashi leaned forward and rested his arms on the table.

"Bet?" Kurenai sounded surprised and rightly so; betting on trivial things such as this were always Kakashi and Asuma's game and theirs alone. Gai may have been the one to turn everything into a challenge with Kakashi but it was he and Asuma, being the underpaid jonin that they were, that bet on every other little thing. A cigarette or dumpling here and there based on who got assigned the next A-rank mission or whose student made the bigger mess that day.

They'd even made a bet once, nearly fifteen years into the friendship about when Kurenai's time of months would be rolling around and while it had earned both men an earful, it was just what they did and she knew it.

"I bet the flavor of junior's second birthday cake that they are," Kakashi stated, taking Kurenai from her thoughts.

She couldn't help but smile at that; the thought of her child's second birthday. There was a bright image in her mind and Asuma was included in it, which automatically faded her smile significantly. Still she replied, "sure."

"Shake on it," Kakashi insisted, holding out a hand to her across the table, "Shake on it or I won't have your word. Asuma's rules, not mine."

"Rightly so," Kurenai said, reaching out to take the hand extended to her, "You're a sneaky little bastard." If that didn't make Kakashi smile, she didn't know what would, and it did of course. They had known each other long enough to know exactly what to say or do, when to say or do it and what kind of reaction it would elicit from the other. It was only natural after thirty years of eating, sleeping, drinking and fighting beside one another.

"It's a bet then," Kakashi nodded, retreating his hand. He finished off the drink that he'd hijacked from Kurenai's charge and pulled the mask back up to his nose. "Come on," he said as he grabbed his jacket and slide out of the booth, "I'll walk you home."

And Kurenai wasn't one to protest. Chances were she would have spent all night in that booth in the silence of her own mind if the sneaky little bastard hadn't shown up. And even as she followed him up, courteously taking his elbow as the descended down the street, Kurenai couldn't decide if his arrival was a good or bad thing.

**Well there you go, a thousand odd words of my ramblings on one of my most favorite subjects in the Naruto-verse. Hope the ending wasn't too abrupt. If it was up to me, the useless chats would go on forever. This was meant to be a one-shot but who knows, maybe if I think of more useless chat topics I'll put up a few more bar outings. Requests and suggestions are always welcome.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed and of course feedback is always loved whether its constructive criticism, questions, comments, anything at all, so I'd appreciate a review or two if ya wouldn't mind :)**


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